Generally the sheets of lead metal are used for X-ray radiation shielding. The other metals which are capable of shielding X-ray radiation include copper, aluminum, titanium (http://hpsorg/publicinformation/ate/q1742.html), iron/steel, chromium, magnesium and barium etc.(Quan Lin et al, Polymer 41 (2000) 8305-8309). Concrete is also often used as shielding material (P. Soo and L. M. Milian, J. Mat. Sci. Letters 20, 2001, 1345-1348). Polymers containing heavy metals in polymeric chains (Jpn Kokai Tokkyo Koho, 157092, 1985 and Jpn Kokai Tokkyo Koho, 98765,1986)) or metal oxides dispersed in polymer matrix also have radiopac properties (European Patent appl.19121). The lead/rare earths (Ching—hwa lee and Chi—Shiung His, Environ. Sci. Technol., 200,36,69-75 and Kompozit.mat@g23.Relkom.ru) and barium (J. A. Griggs et al, J. Mat. Sci. 37, 2002, 2017-2022 and (Narottam P. Bansal, Mat. Sci. & Enginnering A342, 2003, 23-27) containing glasses made from oxides of silicon/aluminum/zinc etc. also exhibit X-ray radiation shielding properties.
The drawbacks in the processes of making above mentioned X-ray shielding materials are as follows:                I. The processes for making X-ray radiation shielding materials based on lead metal, lead bearing glasses or lead compound dispersed polymer composites suffer due to toxicity of lead and/or poor strength and hardness. Further, the lead bearing tiles/sheets/bricks are significantly heavy in weight as the density of lead is 11.34 gm/Cm-2. Another drawback of the lead bearing materials is that their melting points are low (melting point of lead is 325° C.), which prohibits their use at high temperatures.        II. The use of concrete for shielding X-ray radiations suffers on account of a gradual decrease in its mechanical strength with the period of exposure and inability to withstand high temperatures.        III. The processes of making barium alumino-silicate glasses suffer from the disadvantages of utilizing (a) non replenishable natural resources such as quartz and feldspar (b) the quartz and feldspar required in powder form are hard materials (hardness values of 7 and 6 respectively on the Moh's scale) and hence require very high grinding energy (c) require high sintering energy as the sintering is carried out for long durations (four hours to four weeks) in the temperature range 950°-1600° C. depending on the characteristics and chemical compositions of various constituents (Kuo-Tong Lee et al Mat. Chem. & Physics 71, 2001, 47-52).        IV. Processes utilizing oxides/fluorides of rare earths such as yettrium, Lanthanum, Cerium and Dysprosium etc. suffer from the drawback of (a) requirement of sintering at high temperatures and (b) utilization of costly and scaresely occurring Rare Earths the resources.        